「 stray curls 」

iv.

「 II 」 FOUR.

"hello?"

it took her breath away. Archer's voice. she imagined his lips forming the word. his lips. it had been so long.

Morrison had gone back downstairs with Tyler. she had begged him to, and he questioned and questioned her until her voice r o s e, and it must have shaken him,

shaken Morrison? was that even possible?,

because he went.

Tyler was laughing much louder than Morrison. maybe it was because he was happier.

or maybe she just thought too much of too much.

so she was alone in Tyler's guest room, which had plenty of similarities to Ryan's, and she wondered how Ryan was. he was very kind to her. she hadn't been used to that before.

but with all the names flowing through her mind,

Archer was screaming his into the center of her thoughts.

"hello? Marguerite?" said the dreaded voice.

she had called him back and forgotten to speak. silly, stupid girl. how hard is it to answer him? just one boy. he's

just one boy.

her voice gave away every feeling of weakness wrapping itself around her bones. "A-Archer...hello."

she had called him back. she could've just missed the call and moved on. but she had called him back.

"hi," he said, sounding relieved, and she couldn't understand how all that tension left his voice so clearly when she was still so tied up.

nevertheless, she tried to gather herself. "what is it?" she asked, sitting all too uncomfortably on the end of the guest bed.

he laughed, but it sounded forced. "what? it hasn't been too long."

"it's been four months."

a pause. "yes, but what's a little time anyway?"

"you left me."

"only because you asked me to."

asked? more like begged. demanded.

she paused for too long, leaving him room to speak again. "i think we should talk about this. face to face."

and that's when she let out a laugh of her own. but there wasn't an ounce of humor in it. "why? why the hell now?" can't you just let me be?

"we've spent time apart." he answered. i thought that would be forever. "now i think we should talk about things."

and it didn't answer her question. but he had reeled her right back in with his damn kind tone and voice tinted with honey. it almost sounded like the voice of the boy downstairs.

almost.

her voice shook. she wished she could keep the damn thing under control. "when?"

"well, since you said it's been four months, now's as good a time as any."

now. now. now.

she pulled her phone away to check the time. 11:32 p.m. it wasn't...too late. pressing the phone back to her ear, she sealed her fate.

"right. okay." okay.

it would always be okay.